Nuzzel

Brazil has a shortage of blood donors. In an effort to encourage a higher percentage of the population to donate, another brilliant and innovative billboard campaign has been born. A series of ‘Blood Charger Posters’ have been set up across Sao Paulo, all featuring an arm that appears to be giving blood. Upon closer inspection you’ll notice that the blood donation tube is actually a functional phone charger, available to charge your smartphone for free, 24 hrs a day. The slogan is simple:

“If you need, we’re here for you. Why not return the favor? We need blood.”

Video of the week

Watch as a store owner turns unwitting customers into hackers, controlling the streets of Los Angeles with their smartphones. Sound too good to be true? This elaborate prank is all a ruse to promote the upcoming release of the game “Watch Dogs”, with the video racking up over 6.6 million views in just 3 days.

Are you tired of hitting the wrong buttons on your smart phone? Or sick of having to get your phone out of your pocket just to send a simple text message? Using your hands to type is so… like… 2013.

Well, thanks to Minuum & Google Glass, you now live in the future, where we type with our eyes. Congratulations! Minuum have been around for a while, with their “little keyboard for big fingers”. They’ve now incorporated that technology for use while wearing Google Glass. In the prototype, the new keyboard for Google Glass lets wearers tilt their head in the direction of the key they want to hit, and then tap the side of the device to choose the letter. The creators of the Minuum app claim that it is the best way to type on wearable devices and after watching the video, we’d say they’re on to something…

Website of the week

“At 300 feet beneath the surface, the ocean is dark. There are no landmarks around, you are suspended. Look hard enough and they appear: translucent creatures filled with colour. Some are as tiny as the nail on your finger, others are the size of a building. These are gelata – unstudied, mysterious and omnipresent. They are the ocean’s unseen backbone.” This website exists to spark our imaginations and encourage donations to the Aquatilis indie go-go campaign, helping to fund a three-year underwater journey through the unknown, set to explore the world’s most extraordinary creatures. Watch the video to learn more and enjoy the website, it’s stunning.

Beck’s New Zealand hasn’t disappointed with their latest guerilla marketing campaign, the Beck’s Playable Poster. Unsuspecting Auckland pedestrians stumbled upon this interactive music station, where they were treated to a variety of 10 original Kiwi tracks. The poster allows you to play, remix, and skip tracks, via conductive ink leading to sensors and speakers in each of the posters. Reactions, dance moves and head bopping were all captured for your viewing pleasure by a well-positioned GoPro. The release of the poster has been timed to support the New Zealand Music Month, which saw a number of artists join the project and provide tracks for the audio poster, with Beck’s also offering up a number of free tickets to gigs throughout the month. The collaboration with the national event definitely helped carry the campaign and drum up some extra attention for the brand’s poster innovation, despite hashtag #playableposter only seeing a small uptake on Facebook, Twitter and instagram.

App of the week

Discover the best news stories shared by your friends on Facebook and Twitter, without being overwhelmed or missing anything. That’s the motto of Nuzzel, a social-news service that recommends articles based on what your social-media connections are reading and sharing, in real-time. Launched by Friendster founder, Jonathon Abrams, the app provides the same experience as Nuzzel for web, but it adds personalised news alerts to make sure you never miss the most popular stories. Nuzzel also syncs with Instapaper and Pocket, so if you’re too busy you can save articles to read offline later.